Mr Brightside
by typewriterandtea
Summary: "Jealousy, turning saints into the sea" / Andy is well and truly "Mr Brightside" [HIATUS UNTIL LATE SEPT.]


Do you want to know how you know that you are truly obsessed with a ship? When you have Apple Music on shuffle, and just about every song gives you a plot idea. I've written a 'jealousy' one shot before - which can be found in 'The Shandy Box' - but the song "Mr Brightside" just wouldn't leave me alone, and seeing as I'm without a working laptop until my birthday in September, I decided that writing a short (or perhaps, not so short) fic might help.

* * *

 **Mr Brightside | Chapter One | How Did It End Up Like This?**

 _I'm coming out of my cage_

 _And I've been doing just fine_

 _Gotta gotta be down_

 _Because I want it all_

 _It started out with a kiss_

 _How did it end up like this?_

 _It was only a kiss_

 _It was only a kiss_

There was something different about Sharon.

It started out small. She would spend an unusually large amount of time on her phone, little dings sounded throughout the day that alerted the entire team to her wave of messages. That in itself was enough to make Andy curious. Other than the team, it was only ever her kids who texted her, or occasionally Gavin, but Andy knew those text messages generally came after the other man had a few glasses of Chardonnay down him.

It was perfectly normal for Sharon to be the first into the office. Now, Andy was always in a good fifteen minutes before her, and her sudden addition of a Starbucks cup to her morning attire startled him. He had known Sharon long enough to know that she would rather let Rusty eat burgers every day of the week than stop in Starbucks during the morning rush hour. Almost religiously she had a pot of tea each morning with her breakfast. The little skip in her step and the way that her smile reached just a little higher than it used to, didn't go unnoticed by him either.

"You're being paranoid, Flynn" Provenza assured him as he munched on his donut, unimpressed with his friend's latest relationship saga. He was one breakdown away from locking the pair of them in a broom-cupboard and throwing away the key. The pair had been dancing along the thin line between 'friendship' and 'something more' for longer than either would probably care to admit. "Can you leave your donut alone for a minute? This is important!" Andy insisted, sitting himself down on Amy's seat as he glared at the older man. Provenza sighed as he set his donut down onto the white paper bag, shaking his head as he glanced across the room to where Rusty was working away on his laptop. "If you're so worried, why don't you ask the kid?" He suggested, moving his hand towards the teenager as he once again scooped up his donut.

In his mind, Andy was over reacting as he always did.

Rusty looked up from his keyboard when he heard Andy's footsteps come to a stop beside his desk. "Hi, Andy" He greeted, putting down his laptop screen as he addressed the man. "Hi kid. Look, is there something up with Sharon? I'm just a little worried about her," Andy started, glad that everyone else was away out to pick up lunch after finishing off the left over paperwork. This most certainly was not the sort of conversation that he would want to have with Sharon nearby.

"She's a lot happier than she usually is" Rusty agreed, glad to have seen his adoptive mother smile a little more and relax in the comforts of everyday life. "Yeah, strangely happy." Andy remarked, glancing over his shoulder at Provenza, now confident that he wasn't the only one who had noticed the change in Sharon's demeanour.

"Maybe I could come over and cook you both something for dinner tonight?" Andy suggested as he sat down on the seat next to Rusty. He had cooked for them both before after the Dodgers game last summer, and he knew there was few things that Rusty liked more than his home cooked pasta.

"I would have loved you to, but Sharon has some date or something tonight" Rusty announced with a shrug of his shoulders, he had assumed that Sharon would have mentioned it to Andy during one of their dinners. "She's got a what?" Andy exclaimed, standing from his seat as he moved towards the Captain's son, his eyes widening as he took in the newfound information. Sharon had a date? With who?

Provenza moved from his seat quickly to stand beside Flynn, dropping a pat on his friend's back. "Now Flynn, watch your blood pressure" He reminded the man, knowing that the last thing any of them needed was for the man to collapse again. "Now Rusty, who's this man that you're mother is supposedly dating?" Provenza quizzed as he sat himself down in the chair that had previously been occupied by Andy. Out of all the possible reasons for Sharon's more sunnier outlook in life, the last thing he had expected to hear was that the woman had a new man in her life. Once again, Rusty shrugged his shoulders, his eyes fixed on Andy as the man paced around the room.

"I don't know very much about him. I think he's an investment banker or something, or at least, he looks the part" Rusty announced, his words caused Andy to placed his head in his hands. Trust Sharon to be dating someone high up in the world who could afford to wine and dine her. "She meets him for coffee a lot in the morning, if that helps." He offered, almost able to see Andy's blood pressure rising with every minute that past.

Rusty's revelations only made matters worse.

These morning coffee meetings explained all the Starbuck cups, and even the spring in her step. The last time Andy had seen her so happy was at Christmas when she had all three of her children under the same roof for the first time.

Before the conversation could go any further, Rusty nodded his head towards the door as he caught sight of the others coming back, each carrying a plastic bag from the local deli. Andy's eyes followed Sharon as she retrieved her sandwich and headed to her office, her phone already out of her bag as it dinged. Andy had no doubt in his mind that it had to be " _lover boy_ ".

The entire day, he couldn't look at her without his thoughts going back to his conversation with Rusty. Sharon would have told him if she was dating someone, wouldn't she? He had wanted to take things slowly between them, to show Sharon that he wasn't like Jack and that he was someone she could trust. Clearly he had been taking too long to properly ask her out on a date, especially if she was practically in a relationship with this other man.

The day had been one of the rare occasions where they hadn't caught a murder to investigate. By half five, everyone was starting to pack up to leave. When Sharon appeared from her office, Andy quickly spotted the garment bag that was folded over her left arm, the logo for her favourite designer written across the front. She had clearly called in to pick up the dress over her lunch break. Was she buying new clothes to wear on these dates?

"Sharon!"

It took him a few moments to catch up with her, getting her attention just before she could get into the elevator. "Yes?" She asked, adjusting the garment bag on her arm as she turned to look at the man. "Nicole's having a barbecue tomorrow, just a little get together, and she was wondering if you'd like to come" Andy proposed, knowing that his little white lie wasn't completely untrue. Nicole had invited him to the gathering, no doubt believing that he would be bringing Sharon alone.

Sharon pressed her lips together for a moment before she shook her head. "I'll have to do a rain check on that Andy, I have something on tomorrow, but if you text me the details for it, I'll do my best" She announced, her words offered him little comfort as she moved into the elevator, giving him a shy wave as the metal doors shut between them.

When Andy returned, Provenza had just finished putting away his things. "Well?" He asked, curious as to how his talk with Sharon had went. Andy shook his head with defeat as he placed his phone and wallet into the pocket of his jacket. "I invited her to Nicole's barbecue tomorrow but apparently she has something else on and might not be able to go" He revealed on his way towards the door. "Probably with that new guy" Andy remarked a minute later, wondering what right this man thought he had to steal Sharon away every waking hour of the day. "Pity you couldn't at least see what he's like" Provenza said as an after thought as he held the door open for Andy to follow him out.

"That's a brilliant idea" Andy decided, and at once Provenza shook his head, not knowing why he ever opened his mouth. "We can go and park across the street from her condo, that way we'll see them when they're coming out" He planned as he pressed the button for the elevator to take them to the ground floor. "Flynn! That's the worst idea you've ever come up with!" Provenza protested, doubting that there was any way in this world that Flynn was going to talk him into stalking out Sharon's condo to catch sight of her mysterious partner.

* * *

"I don't know why I ever let you talk me into this" Provenza insisted as he moved in his seat, his large ice tea in one hand while he tried his best to eat his burger with the least amount of mess. He had only went with Andy for the food, and to make sure that his friend didn't do anything stupid. "I just want to check the guy out, make sure he's safe for Sharon to be around" Andy reminded him, earning an eye roll from Provenza as the man looked up to the highest heavens. He had parked the car under one of the trees at the back of the car park, confident that Sharon wouldn't be able to see either of them. "More like checking out the competition" Provenza concluded, knowing that the only reason they were parked outside Sharon's condo under the blanket of darkness was so that Andy could get a look at Sharon's mysterious boyfriend.

Half an hour almost past before they spotted sight of Sharon. As she stood outside the door, Andy shook his head in annoyance. "Trust him to make her wait around on him, he must be late or something" Andy muttered with a shake of his head, his voice laced with a disapproving tone as he leaned forward in his seat to get a better look at Sharon.

She looked amazing. Sharon always looked amazing, but tonight was different. Her hair had been placed in a near updo that caused Andy's eyes to go straight to her slender neck. He silently wondered if that had mean an intention choice, especially with her attire. Her dress was a deep crimson red, ending just above her knee and with a delicate neckline that was a little lower than Sharon had ever wore to dinner with him. Her makeup was natural, as she always hated the way women looked when they wore too much, but her lips had been coated in a layer of red lipstick.

"Well, he's some lucky guy tonight anyway" Provenza commented lazily, his words bringing Andy out of his daydreaming and back to reality. Sharon was momentarily concealed from their view when a car came to a stop before her, the driver opened the door before rounding the car to greet the woman. "Is that a Range Rover?" Provenza added, his eyes close together he tried to make out the model of the car. While Provenza worried about the car, Andy kept his eyes firmly on Sharon as she greeted the man. She kissed both his cheeks before her hand found its way to his chest, adjusting the man's tie playfully, earning her a kiss on the cheek from her companion.

Andy had to admit that the man was certainly Sharon's type. His salt and pepper hair was well groomed, his dark suit gave the impression that he was a man of fine standing and Andy was sure that it would be easy to believe that the man's suit probably cost more than he made a week.

His hands tightened their grip on the steering wheel as the man walked Sharon towards the passenger seat of his car. His hand was firmly against Sharon's lower back in an action that looked too familiar for Andy's liking.

"Well Flynn, you've seen the competition, now can we go?" Provenza announced irritated that the man was still perplexed on the spot even after the car had pulled away. "I wonder where they're going" Andy remarked as he started the engine up again and brought the car forward in the same direction as the Range Rover had went. "If you had of asked her out earlier then we wouldn't have this problem!" Provenza reminded him, his back had already started to play up. He wasn't a young thing anymore, and couldn't cope with late night stakeouts, especially if they involved their boss and her latest beau.

When the cars came to a stop at a set of traffic lights, Andy pressed the home button on his iPhone, his text messages with Sharon instantly appeared. "She still hasn't read my messages." He revealed as the light went green and he followed the Range Rover to the right. He had seen her on her phone at least six times that day, and he wondered if his messages had gotten buried under all those from her mysterious date.

"What kind of restaurant is it?" Provenza asked once they pulled the car up to the sidewalk, close enough to see the pair walk up the steps of the restaurant, Sharon's hand locked in the man's arm, but far enough away to not be spotted. Andy had always been her shadow; now he was literally in the shadows. It didn't take Andy long to recognise the name. "It's a French restaurant that Sharon's been looking to go to. It's insanely expensive and the waiting list for a table is through the roof" He informed his friend, well aware that this mystery man clearly had the ability and contacts to give Sharon everything she wanted, and everything she deserved, in life. Maybe this man was a better fit for her than he was? He had considered taking her there, but he would have been living off rations for a fortnight to be able to afford it, and even then, he couldn't even get them on the waiting list.

"Let's go" Andy decided, turning the car back on again as he reversed out of his parking spot.

Maybe this was for the best?


End file.
